Ventilated buff



Aug. 8, 1939. L. M. HAGUE I vsnum'rsn BUFF Filed April 29, 1939 FY2- /Z 7 2 Sheets Sheet 1 INVENTOR Patented Aug. 8,- 1939 UNITED STATES 2,168,871 VENTILATED BUFF Louis M. Hague, Rumson, N. J., assignor to Banson-Van Winkle-Munning Company, Matawan, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 29, 1939, Serial No. 270,733

6 Claims. 51-193) Various types of construction have been de-- veloped for enabling the centrifugal force de-. 1 veloped during the rotation of the wheel to maintain a circulation of air through the wheel in order to prevent undue temperature rise from the friction occasioned by the application of the work to the buffing surface. These constructions generally embody some form of ventilating hub or wheel center and types of bufi" sections so constructed or arranged that their assembly on the ventilating center or hub provides the outward passages for air. The present invention embodies a ventilating hub or center, which may be constructed in various ways, and bufling material in the form of buff segments so arranged on the wheel center or hub that air passages are formed between the edges of the circumferentially suc- 25 cessivesegments. The preferred way of providing the buff segments and arranging them to form the radial air passages is to make the segments to a given radius and employ them to form a wheel of a somewhat increased radius so that the segments are displaced radially outward from their common center and define a wheel of somewhat increased diameter, thus giving rise to the spacing of the segments from each other in a circumferential direction. The spaces thus formed communicate with the air space in the ventilating hub or center and extend to the working periphery of the wheel. Preferably the inner corners of the segments are cropped or cut oii to provide ample air space at the center. In this form the segments are thus annular segments instead of circular segments.

The construction according to the present invention does not involve any particular distinction between bufling and polishing as known in 45 the trade, and I shall therefore employ the term bufl or bufiing as applying to either bufling or polishing. The various types of ventilating hubs or centers will be referred to generically as ventilating hubs, although in many cases the con- 50 struction is not strictly in the nature of a hub but may simply be an enlarged spindle or a series of removable or false centers on which the annular segments are mounted, as well as the conven- 55 tional type of hub member or unit.

Several embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a cross section taken longitudinally of the spindle showing an assembly of buff segments in a pair of wheel flanges mounted on the conventional bufling spindle.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken transversely of the bufling spindle on the line 2-2 of ure 1.

Figure 3 is an outside face view of the periphery of the bufllng wheel assembly shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the bufi segments showing the formation of the segment by folding a complete or full disc of buiiing cloth into a quadrant and having the inner corner cropped.

Figure 5 is a face view of a buff segment of similar shape to that illustrated in Figure 4 but which may be produced either in the manner shown in Figure 4 or by superposed quadrant plies stitched together on arcuate lines parallel to the periphery.

Figure 6 is a view of a construction similar to that shown in Figure 5 but illustrating the use of square cross-stitching.

Figure 7 is a face view of a somewhat different form of buff section comprising a complete circular or annular section on which are secured circumferentially spaced apart buff segments similar to those employed in the previous examples.

Figure 8 is a similar view of the embodiment shown in Figure 7 but mounted on one of several forms of ventilating hubs with which this type of composite section may be employed.

Referring now more specifically to Figures 1, 2 and3, the usual bufling spindle ID has mounted thereon an inner flange i l and an outer flange l2 with the buifing segments I3 clamped between them by means of the nut It. The outer wheel fiange l2 has a series of orifices l5 through which air enters the wheel center or hub and a circular series of pins or rods it, which are rigidly mounted and project from its inner face toward the inner flange I 1. Inner flange l I is perforated or otherwise adapted to receive the ends of the rods l6 so as to resist any tendency to their deflection radially outward or in any other direction under the forces developed in operating the bufling wheel. A guard ring or hood I! is mounted on the inner wheel flange H to shield the projecting ends of the rods IS.

The segments l3, illustrated in Figures 1, 2 an 3, may be of any approved construction but pref erably of some type such as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6. Figure 2 illustrates the segments as having lines of stitching extending from the inner to the outer periphery in lines parallel to the median radius of the'segment'. Each segment,

in the example shown, is provided with three procedure is to build up one layer with four of the 90 segments mounted on the consecutive pins as shown in Figure 2, this mounting necessarily resultingin the formation of air passages l8 between the edges of the successive segments, these air passages extending radially outward from the ventilating hubto the working periphcry of the bufling wheel. Four of these air passages i8 will be formed in each layer of segments. Having placed the four segments in the first layer, a secondlayer is formed'by placing four more segments on the rods IS, the segments of this second layer being circumferentially displaced from registry with the segments of the first layer so as to provide another seriesof four I ventilating passages l8 circumferentially as well asaxially removed from those of the first layer. Similarly, successive layers are assembled so that the complete wheel will have. as many outward air passages as there are segments, and these will be circumferentially and axially distributed throughout the body of the wheel. This arrangement is clearly evident from Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings.

The inner wheel flange ii is preferably also apertured as at i9 to provide air inlets similar to the apertures i5 of the outer wheel flange i2. During the rotation of the buiflng wheel, air is drawn in through the apertures I5 and I9 and expelled through the air passage la in obvious manner. It will be evident that the apertures l5 and IS in the respective wheel flanges are merely illustrative of any form of open-work construction which permits the air to enter through the wheel flanges, whether this construction be in the form of a series-of spokes, blades or simple perforated webs. The manner of building up the wheel by disposing the segments in layers circumferentially spaced apart is believed to be the 0 best way to provide the air passages through the body of the wheel. It is, howeyer, entirely feasible to arrange the four segments in four tiers or columns so that the air passages I! extend continuously across the width of the wheel. Furthermore, the segments may be disposed spirally by displacing each segment from the preceding segment the distance of one rod and continuin in this fashion until the entire wheel has been built up. It should also be pointed out that instead of employing segments of circles defined by radial edges, and displacing these radially outward to provide the air passages l8, modified segments may be produced by reducing the included angle and mounting them about their common center at a radial distance corresponding with their radius of outer curvature so that the wheel face will be strictly circular instead of somewhat undulatory as results from the outward displacement of the normal segments previously described.

The segmental construction, whether normal or modified. may be employed in association with complete circular or annular sections, as for example by placing a complete circular or annular sectionat each side of the buillng wheel where it will cover the air passages it of the two outer- I most layers of segments. It is. of course, likewise optional to employ such complete circular or annular sections at intermediate positions between layers of segmentsin the wheel assembly. A special adaptation of this principle of association is illustrated in Figures '7 and 8, in which annular sections such as 20 have secured to them,

as by stitching or otherwise, a layer of segments 2i, circumferentially spaced apart as in the previ- 'ous examples.

Such a composite section being circumferentially continuous in the annular section is, well adapted to use between apertured' wheel flanges on the conventional ventilating hubs or spindles or on perforated false centers 22. as shown in Figure 8, without requiring the retaining means such as the rods I of the embodiment heretofore described. By building up a wheel of successive composite sections of this type, superposed one upon another, adequate ventilation may be obtained for many classes of work, even when using the same number of seg-. ments with consequently fewer ventilating passages in a wheel of the same size. By reducin the included angle of the segment to one half that of the quadrants illustrated, the same number of ventilating passages will, of course, be obtained since there will be twice the number of segments in each layer of segments.

-It is believed that the foregoing illustrationswill suggest manypossible embodiments of the principle of the invention, so that those skilled in the art will be enabled to employ the invention in many different forms.

I claim:

1. A bufllng wheel comprising in combination a ventilating hub for admitting air into the interior of the wheel, and a plurality of buff segments mounted on said hub and circumferentially spaced from each other to provide air outlets leading from the interior'of the wheel.

2. A boiling wheel comprising in combination a ventilating hub for admitting air into the interior of the wheel, and a plurality of layers of but! segments mounted thereon in the plane of rotation, the segments of each layer being circumferentially spaced and those of one layer overlapping the spaces in an adjacent layer to provide circumferentially and axially distributed air outlets leading from the interior of the wheel.

3. A builing wheel comprising in combination a ventilating hub for admitting air into the interior of the wheel, a layer of buff segments encircling said hub in a plane, with spaces betweentheir edges to provide air outlets leading from. the interior of the wheel, and a circumferentially continuous buff section, disposed face to face with said built: segments and covering the sides of said air outlets.

4. A bufling wheel comprising in combination a ventilating hub for admitting air into the interior of the wheel, a pair of layers of bull segments. those of each layer disposed in a plane and encircling said hub, with spaces between their edges to provide air outlets leading from the interior of the wheel, and a circumferentially continuous buff section disposed between said layers of but! segments. 5. A composite buff section comprising a circumferentially continuous section and a layer of buff segments secured thereto in circumferentially spaced apart relation to provide radial passages between the segments.

b. A ventilated buil'ing wheel comprising in combination a pair of wheel flanges, one having rods projecting transversely from it toward the" 

